


Girls

by brams_oreos



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Crushes, F/F, F/M, First Time, Flirting, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Lesbian Character, Lydia is Bi, Male-Female Friendship, Pining, Sex, Sexual Tension, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn? What's a Slow Burn?, Teen Romance, Useless Lesbians, but it's mentioned A LOT, carl is honestly mostly a background character, carl is just enid's supportive best friend, enid is a lesbian, enid is a useless lesbian, fade to black sex scenes, he's dumb and oblivious though, i'm really bad at tagging shit, it's not his fault, not as in smut, realising you’re not straight, who is also sleeping with the girl she likes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-10-14 20:39:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brams_oreos/pseuds/brams_oreos
Summary: “So, are you and Carl… a thing?”“Define ‘thing’.”“Dating. Boyfriend and girlfriend.”“Oh, no. We’re just sleeping together.”“So you’re single?”Lydia smirks, “you interested in me, Enid?”





	1. Chapter 1

Carl and Lydia are sleeping together again.

Enid knows this because this is the second- no, the third time she’s been rudely awakened by their… _sounds_.

They are _trying_ to be quiet. She can tell by their hushed voices, so she doesn’t blame them entirely. Unfortunately for her, when they get into it, they stop caring about how loud they are.

Lydia does at least.

She gives up trying to tune them out after ten minutes of suffering and throws a jacket on over her loose pyjama t-shirt before hurrying out of her room and downstairs to the safety of silence. She gets comfy on the sofa and waits, patiently, for the sound of Carl sneaking back to his own room once they’ve finished.

She can still hear Lydia, very faintly, and she wonders if Lydia is just that loud in general or if Carl is just some sort of sex god.

It doesn’t take her long to decide on the former.

She counts the seconds and waits another ten minutes- because seriously, how long does sex take? -and then quietly goes back upstairs again. She has almost reentered her room when she hears Carl behind her.

“Enid?”

She bites her lip, debating on whether or not to turn around and face this no doubt awkward conversation. She decides that she doesn’t really have a choice, and spins around to face him.

“Yeah?”

He’s blushing, so she knows that he knows that she knows about his midnight escapades with a certain blonde friend of theirs. Nevertheless, he plays dumb anyway.

“What’re you doing up this late?”

 _Two can play at that game, Carl_. She thinks. “I could ask you the same question.”

Carl stares at her awkwardly for a few seconds before she rolls her eyes and breaks the silence, “is Lydia asleep?”

“Oh- I- uh- yeah.” Carl blushes harder. “She usually- after we- so do I- but- I have to-“

“Chill, Carl.” She interrupts, “I know about you two, to be honest, it’s kinda hard not to. You don’t need to be embarrassed. Sex is… sex, I’m pretty sure half the people we know are having it. Not currently, but you get what I mean.”

“Yeah. You’re right, sorry. We didn’t-? did we-?“

“Yeah, you woke me up. Third time this week actually.”

“Sorry.” Carl sighs, “we try to stay quiet but it… gets kinda hard. We always forget. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well… y’know, you’re a virgin. I don’t expect you to understand what’s its like.”

“Did you forget masturbation exists for a hot second there?” She blushes as soon as the words leave her mouth, and Carl does too because she _definitely_ revealed too much there.

“Wow, thanks for that… lovely mental image, Enid.”

“Right back at ya. I’ve really been enjoying the visuals you’ve been giving me.”

Carl rolls his eye, “touché.”

“Seriously though, you have sex more than Maggie does, and that’s saying something. I think you have a problem.”

“I don’t see it as a problem.”

“Of course you don’t. You horny…” she trails off, unable to think of an appropriate insult.

“Teenager?” Carl finishes, raising his eyebrow. “I think you’re just jealous.”

Enid feels a bit of panic rise in her chest at his words, she attempts to reassure herself because there’s _no way_   Carl’s figured it out, he’s not a mind reader, “what makes you say that?”

“The fact that I’m having sex and you’re not.”

She restrains herself from letting out a sigh of relief, “well, it’s not like there’s anyone here for me to have sex with.”

“Mikey is nice, and I’m pretty sure he’s interested in you.”

“Every guy our age here is ‘interested in me’,” she says, “Lydia too, although you two are always hanging out with each other so I think they assume she’s off limits.”

“She _is_ off limits,” he replies, and Enid bites her lip, ignoring the slightly painful feeling she gets in reaction to his words, “you’re too picky.”

She scoffs, “sorry I don’t want to sleep with the first person who shows the slightest bit of interest in me.”

“I’m just saying! It’s the apocalypse, now is exactly the wrong time to be picky.”

“I don’t see how it’s picky to not want to sleep with someone I don’t actually like. I just want someone I’m comfortable with. Ugh.” She sighs and leans against the wall slightly. “There’s no-one here like that who’s willing to have sex with me.”

They make eye contact as she finishes her sentence, and Enid’s eyes widen slightly as she realises the slight implication of her words. She wants to defend herself but no words come to mind, so they just awkwardly stare at each other for a few seconds until she finally works out what she wants to say.

“I didn’t mean-“ she laughs nervously, “I mean- we’re best friends I wouldn’t ask you to- that’s weird.”

“I’m gonna go to bed,” Carl announces.

“Yeah, that’s… probably for the best. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

And then she's alone with her thoughts again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pretty much just a filler because i want to move on to other things but oh well. better this than nothing.

Enid goes on a date with Mikey.

She regrets it the minute she leaves the safety of her house, and she's still regretting it several minutes later after they've made their way over to a secluded place on the Hilltop and made themselves comfortable on the grass.

The problem is, Mikey is nice, and it turns out Carl was right, he's also definitely interested in her, probably more than all the other guys she knows. So she doesn't know how to break it to him that she doesn't feel the same way. She worries that he'll ask her why, and that she'll have to come up with an excuse other than 'I just don't', because she has a feeling that it's not just because he's not her type, and she's not sure she's ready to admit that to herself yet, much less another person.

So, she stays silent and she lets him talk and tell her about how he's enjoying life at the Hilltop, how the people are nice and the girls are pretty- but not as pretty as her of course -and how he finally feels somewhat safe even if the dead and wandering around outside the walls. And when it's her turn to talk, she makes up some bullshit about how she finally feels like she has a family here, which isn't entirely a lie, it's just not as big of a deal as she makes it seem.

Like a true gentlemen (his words, not hers) Mikey walks her home and leaves her at her door. She thanks him for the nice time and says it was fun getting to know him, and thankfully, he leaves without trying to kiss her.

The second she steps inside Carl ambushes her.

"Well? How was it? I need details! Did you kiss him?"

She bites her lip, "no. He's nice, but..." she hesitates, "but I don't think he's my type."

Carl rolls his eye, "it's just like I said before, you're too picky."

"Why? Because I'm not interested in the first guy I go on a date with?"

"Yes! That's exactly why. You don't have to make him your boyfriend! I thought you just wanted sex. You can do that without dating someone!"

Enid sighs in frustration, "I'm not like you, Carl! Okay? I'm not saying that it needs to be special like it is in all those cheesy movies, but I need it to be with someone I really like."

Carl backs off then, probably sensing that she's upset. "Are... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Carl. I'm just... Confused."

"Confused about what?"

She shrugs, "this whole sex thing, how I feel about it, if I even want it, who I want it with." She flops down onto the sofa, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling with her hands over her chest, "I think... Even though we grew up trying to keep ourselves alive and that sucks, I almost preferred it in a way. Because if I wasn't fighting walkers I was on supply runs, or helping Maggie with Hershel, or learning how to throw knives and use guns. Now everything is calm and we're allowed to actually be teenagers and do teenage stuff, like go out on dates and have sex and do dumb, reckless shit... I'm not ready for it. I want to go back to being busy again. Because then I don't have to think about everything."

She's greeted with silence, and after a few seconds she looks over at Carl to check if he's still there.

"I've never thought about it like that," he replies once he notices her staring, "I'm still surviving, kind of. I'm just... Also having sex."

Enid laughs because if she doesn't she thinks she might cry. "You can go if you want. I'm sure Lydia is upstairs waiting for you." 

Carl looks like he wants to stay, but he can also sense when she needs her alone time, so he leaves. And she stays staring up at the ceiling and reluctantly acknowledges the thing on her mind.

She's unsure if she can actually consider Lydia a friend. They've definitely hung out a few times, but never alone, Carl was always also there, so they never really got time to talk. Enid doesn't know if she'd tell Lydia about her thoughts if they were closer. She isn't sure why she can't tell Carl, Carl has never had a problem with Jesus, or Aaron, or Tara. There's no evidence that suggests he wouldn't be okay with it, but that anxiety about it is still there. Plus, she isn't even sure herself yet, so there's not really any point telling him.

She decides she has to think about it, because if she doesn't it'll just keep eating her up inside.

She might- no, is probably, possibly... A lesbian.

And she might also, probably, definitely, have a gigantic crush on Lydia.


	3. Chapter 3

Once she finally lets herself admit that there's at least a possibility that she might be gay, thinking about it becomes a lot easier. It still makes her feel anxious, although she's not entirely sure why, but it's at least easier to consider.

After much reluctance, she also allows herself to enjoy how she feels about Lydia. At this point, even if she's not gay, she pretty positive that she has a crush. A crush on a girl she can't have, but a crush nonetheless. And crushes feel good. Whenever she sees Lydia, everything seems to move in slow motion. Her heart does somersaults and she gets an overall warm feeling in her chest and butterflies in her stomach. Every time Lydia speaks, or smiles, Enid smiles too.

Eventually, because she can't help it, she gives in to her feelings and decides to ask Carl and Lydia if they want to hang out for the day, just so she can spend a little more time with her, which is how she finds herself outside of Carl's door the next morning.

She raises her fist to knock, but before she can the door swings open, and she's greeted by the sight of Lydia, her long blonde hair slightly messy- from sex or just sleeping, Enid can't tell- her blue eyes wide in surprise, and in nothing but her bra and underwear.

Enid turns red immediately, looking literally anywhere other than Lydia's chest. Unfortunately for her, once she adjusts to the entire situation and her shock at seeing Enid at Carl's door, Lydia relaxes and leans casually against the doorframe, obviously aware at how hard Enid is blushing.

"Hey, sweetie." She says. Enid dies on the spot.

She clears her throat and wills her soul to return to her body, "hi," she replies, "sorry, I didn't think you'd be here, Carl usually sneaks into your room."

Lydia laughs, and it's so much better than Enid remembers, "yeah, we weren't planning on doing it last night but I couldn't sleep, so."

"You can always come into my room, instead! Not- not for sex, obviously, but for talking. If you want, I mean."

She tilts her head slightly, "why not for sex?"

Enid doesn't think she's ever blushed harder in her life. "Well- I- I didn't think you'd-"

Lydia laughs again, "relax, I'm just messing with you. I might drop by the next time I can't sleep, we can talk like those teen girls do in movies. Like a sleepover."

She smiles, "that'd be fun."

Behind Lydia, Enid can see Carl getting dressed for the day, and she knows that if they agree to her proposal he'll soon be joining them, so she attempts to keep Lydia for as long as possible.

“So, are you and Carl… a thing?”

“Define ‘thing’.”

“Dating. Boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Oh, no. We’re just sleeping together.”

“So you’re single?”

Lydia smirks, “you interested in me, Enid?”

Enid blushes yet again, "I-"

"What're you guys talking about?" Carl interrupts suddenly, and Enid knows it's not his fault but she wants to scream at him for ruining their moment.

Lydia smiles and kisses his cheek, Enid ignores the familiar painful feeling in her chest, "oh, nothing, um..." she turns back to face her, "is there anything in particular you wanted, E? Or did you just come here to flirt?" The smile on her lips has turned playful, and Enid doesn't miss how Carl raises his eyebrow at her words.

"I actually wanted to know if you guys wanted to hang out today. As friends."

"I'd love to. Carl?"

Carl looks at her apologetically, "I can't, sorry. I'm visiting my dad today."

Lydia shrugs, "that's fine. Enid and I can just hang out. We can get to know each other better, I need more female friends anyway."

Enid's heart flips.

"Okay. Sounds good. You should probably get dressed though."

Lydia looks down, apparently only just remembering she's only in her bra and underwear. "Oh shit, yeah!" She laughs, "I almost forgot.," she glances back up at Enid, "I'll meet you downstairs in a minute, okay sweetie?"

Enid nods and quickly leaves, trying to hide the excitement slowly building in her chest.

Suddenly, she doesn't care if she's straight, or bi, or a lesbian, or whatever. All that matters is Lydia and how she makes her feel. And it's a really, really good feeling.


	4. Chapter 4

Enid spends the day taking Lydia in. 

They walk aimlessly around the Hilltop, chatting about whatever topic pops into their heads. Enid notices that while usually, Lydia dominates conversations, she gets quieter when asked to talk about herself, so other than a few questions at the beginning, Enid stays away from the subject. 

As it turns out, Enid’s a really good listener. She watches Lydia smile as she talks about all the fun stuff she gets up to now she’s safe, how she’s glad that she doesn’t have to focus on surviving anymore. She listens to her laugh when she cracks a joke and attempts to hide her face when Lydia compliments her sense of humour. They eat lunch together and talk as if they’re old friends. 

They lose track of time, and they stay out almost all day. When the sun starts to set, they retreat back inside and go to Lydia’s room. 

As Enid steps inside, she realises she’s never actually seen it before. It’s simultaneously neat and messy. You can still see the floor, but the majority of items aren't quite put away. There’s a bra hanging off of the corner of an open drawer, books peeking out from below the unmade bed, jeans tucked away in a corner. Enid assumes Lydia was in a rush to get them off and soon forgot about them afterwards. 

“Do you know, you’re the only person to see this room other than Carl?” Lydia tells her once they’ve both entered and the door is shut behind them, “since I moved in, I mean.” 

“I’m honoured.” Enid smiles, awkwardly standing by the door. She’s unsure of what to do. She can pretty much lie, sit, or stand wherever she wants in Carl’s room, but she’s been in his room plenty of times, and she’s never had a crush on him before. 

Lydia seems to sense the awkward silence descending upon them. “Have you ever painted your nails before?” 

Enid shakes her head. 

“Great! That means we have something to do to save us from boredom.” 

“I could never be bored with you,” Enid says, and a split second later she cringes as she realises what she just said. “I- I'm sorry. God I’m so weird.” She hides her face so Lydia doesn’t see her blushing for the millionth time today. 

Unexpectedly, Lydia laughs, and Enid only blushes harder as the sound causes the butterflies to return to her stomach. 

“You’re adorable, d’you know that?” She chuckles, “now c’mere and sit with me so I can paint your nails.” 

After recovering from the embarrassment, Enid sits opposite Lydia and watches her organise everything. “Unfortunately I only have two colours, pink and blue, and the pink is almost out, so you don’t get to choose.” Lydia glances up at her to see her reaction; Enid simply shrugs and smiles, “I think blue will look good on you though.” 

Once everything is ready, Enid offers Lydia her hand, thankful for how she ignores how it’s shaking slightly. She watches as she dips the brush into the jar and wipes off the excess before slowly dragging it across the nail on Enid’s thumb. While she’s occupied, Enid takes the opportunity to take her in again.  

Lydia bites her lip when she’s concentrating, and shakes her head often to get her hair out of her face. Enid’s skin is tingling where their hands are touching. 

“There,” Lydia says once she’s finished one hand, “now place it flat on the ground so you don’t smudge it, that’s some of my best work and if you ruin it I’ll kill you.” 

Enid laughs, “oh I’m  _so_  scared.” 

“You should be.” 

Enid glances at her finished hand while Lydia works on her other one, and when she looks back she’s surprised to see Lydia watching her. 

“Sorry,” Lydia laughs, and Enid swears she’s blushing, “you’re really pretty, do you know that?” 

“I…” Enid can’t seem to find words, “I… thanks. You- you’re really pretty too.” 

“I’m surprised Carl never made a move on you, to be honest.” Lydia goes back to painting her nails. 

“I’m kinda glad he didn’t, he’s not my type.” 

“Oh? And what  _is_  your type?” 

Enid laughs nervously, “I- I’m not sure.” 

Lydia finishes the last nail and looks up at her again, “all done,” she says, smiling. 

Enid clears her throat, “th- thanks.” 

“Can I see your other hand?” 

Enid offers it to her, and she’s shaking worse than last time. Lydia takes it gently and inspects her nails. “You didn’t smudge any, I guess you’re leaving this room alive after all.” 

Considering the butterflies swirling around her stomach and the way her heart is pounding, Enid isn’t so sure about that. “Y- yay.” 

Lydia slowly starts rubbing soothing circles into the top of Enid’s hand with her thumb, probably attempting to relax her. The action has the complete opposite effect and Enid’s heart only races faster. 

They make eye contact, and Enid suddenly realises how  _close_ they are. If she tilted her head towards Lydia slightly their foreheads would touch. Have they been this close the entire time? Has Lydia moved closer? 

There’s a long moment where neither of them says anything, but Lydia’s hand stops rubbing circles into Enid’s and instead moves to brush a strand of hair out of Enid’s face. 

“Wh- what’s happening?” Enid whispers, because she would really like to know before she spontaneously combusts. 

“Shh," is all Lydia says. And then she’s leaning in, and Enid is leaning in, and they’re so close Enid can feel Lydia’s breath on her lips, and- 

The door bursts open and the two girls jump apart. 

“Okay, so you will  _never_ believe what’s going on at Alexandria…” Carl’s voice fills the room, Lydia recovers quickly, smiling as if nothing happened- or was about to happen at least -and beginning to tidy up while listening to Carl. Enid listens half-heartedly eventually, but she’s more focused on Lydia and everything that just happened-  _almost_ happened. She thinks about it too much, and Carl’s voice is suddenly too loud and Lydia’s bedroom light is too bright. 

“I- I’ve gotta go to the bathroom.” She says, Carl waves her off as she rises to her feet and all but runs out of the room and to the bathroom down the hall. She stares at herself in the mirror and waits for her heart to slow down. 

She’s definitely gay, she decides. There’s no point denying it now.


	5. Chapter 5

They almost kissed.

The house is silent, Carl and Lydia aren’t hooking up tonight. Enid has no reason to be awake this late.

Except they almost kissed.

If Enid concentrates hard enough, she can still feel Lydia’s breath on her lips. She imagines kissing her for real. Eyes fluttering shut, hands cupping cheeks, lips meeting.

She can’t help but be angry at Carl. That’s the second time he’s ruined a moment for her. She knows it’s not deliberate, but if he hadn’t walked in at that moment they would’ve kissed. She would’ve kissed Lydia. Lydia would’ve kissed her.

Does Lydia like her back?

Enid hadn’t even considered the idea that Lydia could like her too. She seemed so busy with Carl all the time, she had just assumed they were unofficially together. Carl definitely acted as though they were.

But Lydia had called her pretty. And she’d made the first move, there’s no denying that.

Somehow this is more confusing than Enid’s sexuality.

She flicks on the lamp on her bedside table and looks at her nails. Unfortunately, the majority on her left hand are smudged. They don’t look too bad on their own, but compared to her right they’re disappointing. She runs her thumb over her hand and rubs circles into it like Lydia did earlier, closing her eyes and going through everything that happened again.

This girl is going to kill her.

She’s pulled from her thoughts by a quiet knock at the door. At first, she thinks she’s imagining it, but a few seconds later she hears the sound again.

“Come in?” She whispers, intrigued at who’d be knocking at her door this late. Carl maybe? She sits up in bed, pulling her covers up to her chest so her visitor can’t see that she’s in nothing but a shirt and underwear.

The door opens, and in walks Lydia, shutting it silently behind her before making her way over to the bed.

All Enid can do is stare and hold her covers to her chest tighter, “what-“ she starts, but Lydia cuts her off.

“Are you okay?” She whispers. Enid nods, “sorry, you ran off pretty fast earlier, and then you didn’t come back, I wanted to make sure I didn’t scare you away.”

“You could never. I…” she’s being weird again, “I’m sorry for disappearing.”

“Don’t be, it was kinda awkward, to be honest. You’re lucky you escaped.” Lydia laughs quietly.

Enid smiles, “yay me,” she replies, "so... what brings you here?"

"I couldn't sleep, and I figured that since you said I could swing by at any time if that happened, I decided to come and make sure you were okay."

Had Lydia been lying awake thinking about her too?

She hesitates before showing Lydia her left hand, “I must’ve smudged them when I ran to the bathroom, I’m sorry.”

Lydia sighs, “I guess I’m gonna have to kill you after all.”

Enid laughs this time, “or you could just redo them like a normal person.”

“But then how would I get my revenge?” Lydia lays next to her, and Enid relaxes against her headboard, still holding her blanket to her chest. Lydia is wearing the exact same thing as her but doesn’t seem to care as much. Her position has caused her shirt to ride up though, and Enid can just see the bottom of her underwear, as well as almost the entirety of her thighs. The butterflies and racing heart are back with a vengeance, but they’re mixed with another feeling this time that Enid can’t place.

She moves her gaze up to Lydia’s face, and luckily they don’t make eye contact this time. They sit in silence, but it’s comfortable, not awkward. Still, Lydia breaks it.

“Do you like girls?”

Enid doesn’t look at her when she answers, she’s not sure she can, “I don’t know. I think so.”

“I do.”

Enid has to look at her then, “but Carl-“

“I like boys too. I like Carl. He’s sweet, he’s good at sex, he’s fun to be around.” Lydia takes a breath, “but I like you too. You’re funny, you’re pretty, you’re… I don’t know. I like you differently than I like Carl. Carl’s great, but I don’t see him as a boyfriend. We tried but I broke it off. We’re better off as friends who have sex, not boyfriend and girlfriend. I’m fine with being just friends with him. But with you…” she trails off. Enid can’t believe this is happening. Surely she’s dreaming.

“I don’t know what to say.” She whispers after a long beat of silence.

Lydia shifts and moves closer, and they’re back to how close they were earlier. Close enough to press their foreheads together. “You don’t have to say anything.” She whispers back.

Enid leans forward and kisses her. Fireworks immediately explode in her chest and stomach. It’s the best way she can describe it. The second their lips meet everything else fades away. Everything is Lydia and Lydia’s touch. Lydia’s lips on hers, Lydia’s hands moving her own and tugging the duvet away from her chest.

They break apart briefly, both girls breathing heavily, but it doesn’t last long. Lydia connects their lips again. Enid’s hands were in her hair but now they’re on her back. Lydia’s were on her shoulders but they move lower, brushing over her chest and lower still until they reach the bottom of her shirt and tug lightly, silently asking for permission.

Enid pulls away again, and Lydia stares into her eyes, “is this okay?” She asks. Enid nods but grabs her arms anyway to stop them from removing any clothing for the time being.

“I- I’ve never…” Everything has happened so fast. She gets her breath back so she can think clearly again. Her lips are tingling from the feeling of Lydia’s on them.

Lydia backs off slightly, “we don’t have to-“

Enid shakes her head this time, “n- no I want to-“ it feels like she’s never wanted anything more in her life, honestly, “I- I just thought you should know. I don’t know what to do, o- or anything really.” She laughs nervously.

“Are you sure? I swear we don’t have to. We only kissed for the first time like, a few seconds ago.” Lydia laughs too.

Enid nods again, “I’m sure. I- I want you. I’ve been wanting you for weeks.”

Lydia smiles, “well now you have me.”

She smiles back, and Lydia seems to hesitate before pulling her own shirt off, and wow, there's a sight Enid really wasn't expecting to see tonight.

Lydia wastes no time kissing her again, and eventually, her shirt ends up on the floor, with her underwear and the majority of the blanket joining it not long after. She's nervous, but everything somehow feels right. Here, with Lydia, during the early hours of the morning, in her dimly lit bedroom, with perfectly painted nails on one hand and a disappointing smudged mess that'll have to be redone on the other.

And when Lydia finally ends up between her legs? Well... she suddenly understands exactly why she's been rudely woken up these past few nights.


End file.
